baguio uli

for once in my life i wasn't excited to go up to baguio because i knew i was going to be just cooped up in our little lodge doing work.

but, i was able to get out for a while by offering to buy some stuff for the other facilitators. at least i got the chance to walk around session road. hopefully i have enough time to eat some corn at burnham park. and that will already make up for the tiring trip and the quickie no-quality stay in baguio. hehe!

but yeah... at least i got to walk session road. something i always liked doing in baguio. walking and people watching.

jurong bird park

be forewarned. the pamphlet says you may take bus 251 or bus 194 from the boon lay mrt station to get to the jurong bird park. do not. i repeat. do not take bus 251 unless you want a tour of the factories of singapore! though i did get to see the khong guan biscuit factory. but it ain't worth the extra 30-minute tour. so just take bus 194 if you are truly excited to see the birds.

here are some of our pictures. there are 158 of them. but the raw photos... around 800. bwahaha! the trouble three people with a digital camera each. hehe!

singapura

honestly, singapore was not what i had in my mind for my first out of the country trip. i've always thought it to be too metropolitan for my countryside taste. bangkok or cambodia or vietnam would have been where i would start off.

however, since i promised a jvp batchmate that i will try and visit him this year, i had to keep that promise. and besides, i figured it would be best to have someone you know in a foreign country. so singapore it was.

and it was a wonderful, pleasant surprise! while it is indeed metropolitan, it was also able to satisfy my taste for adventure and culture. i actually loved the metro-ness of it! its wonderful transportation system, the walking from one point to the other, the discipline of the people on the streets. it was a welcome breather from the congested cities of the philippines.

and there were simply so many places to go to! with five days there... we were still unable to do everything that we wanted. we were able to do the singapore zoo, the night safari, the jurong bird park, sentosa, the clark quay in g-max and ikea (tourist attraction na pala to ngayon!). the last day we had to split up to do our own desires - eiza and kris for shopping , while i went around the landmarks for picture-taking. and still it was not enough time!

plus there were free maps all over the place. maps to certain locations, maps to the entire singapore, the train line, the bus line... it was both easy and hard to get lost there. and the people were just so nice and accommodating (numero uno si dondi! love you batchmate!). our questions were answered politely and properly, and with a smile too.

and i love it when we go to restaurants and they'd go, "philippines?" and we'd say,"yes!" and they'd go, "mabuhay! try this..." and when we pay, they'd go, "salamat." aliw!

i also loved loved loved the diversity of the people there. when we got off the airport, we were first greeted with a magandang hapon by a fellow pinoy which made me think twice if we went to singapore or another philippine city. doubts where gone when i saw indians, chinese, whites, malays all over the airport. i love it! i think diversity helps people to be more tolerant and consequently more understanding of others. the philippines is too homogenous compared to singapore.

i love love love it there. while i usually have a been there, done that policy for my travels... it is not so with singapore. i don't mind going back. in fact, i want to go back. see more of the place, and even do the same things we did when we were there. i enjoyed it that much!

traveling abroad is addicting, mehn. i need to save up for another trip! hehe.

milestone 1 for 2008

tomorrow i do something for the first time. travel abroad. yey!

for some people this is easy as pie that they do it as often as the davao gang island hop around the Philippines. for common people like me, this is a major production that meant months of saving up and dreaming of it.

2008 is a milestone year for me. and i start it of with this trip. i have this mole on my foot which according to local superstition makes me a "lakwatsera." while i do not like going out on gimmicks much, i would always jump at the prospect of out-of-town travel.

last year, as people started to drift off from davao and out into the big bad world... i realized that i had to do something myself. that my travel-hungry feet must be fed. so i decided, before i turn 30, i must have my passport stamped. I MUST.

and so tomorrow, it shall be. with eiza and her cousin, i'm off to singapore to visit dondi. off to see sting's back on february 4. and more importantly, off to strike one item out of not-really-there list.

feels good. :)

at sa mga hihingi ng pasalubong... kuwento at larawan po para sa inyo pagbalik ko. hehe! ;p

my newest favorite jumping picture

taken in pulo diyot snorkeling area. after getting tired from snorkeling, we decided to jump off the boat for fun and photos (of course!).

pulo diyot is the name on the map, but the locals call it virgin island. we weren't able to dock the beach because the owner of the island was coming and tourists were not allowed to enter. too bad. the beach looked very promising.

discoveries in cebu

malapascua means"bad christmas." according to the locals, there was a strong storm that sent magellan's galleons to the island on christmas day. thus he called the island malas pascua. cool, huh? the name stuck around for almost 500 hundred years!

bantayan island has been given papal permission to eat meat on good friday. we finally discovered the truth. good friday is their fiesta. i didn't know that good friday could be a fiesta. but there you go... bantayan is evidence. how considerate of whoever that pope was. how strange too. tee-hee!

and now for the true discovery: we have truly become adults on a trip. what does this mean?

1. we'd rather pay extra fifty to a hundred bucks than suffer through hordes of masses rushing to a single bus. a long time ago, we'd have stuck it out to save on cash. but what else is disposable income for?

2. junk food is not a meal anymore. there was a time i could survive on merely eating chips and biscuit or maybe a luxurious tub of instant noodles. during this trip, we had to have a decent meal. anyone who got hungry, got grumpy. and boy did we feed ourselves! and boy, did tita susan and tito peter feed us too.

3. extra bed please! and extra towels. and could you please clean the bathroom while we snorkel? thank you. gone were the days when we would plead to resort owners to allow 7-14 people fit a room for four. "overnight lang naman e." just to save money. this time, each one had to have his/her own bed and sleep comfortably. why? this leads to discovery number 4.

4. sleep is part of the vacation. there was a time in our lives when "morning the night" was part of the fun. who cares if one only had an hour sleep? we had a wonderful conversation! not anymore! the day is for adventure and after twelve is for sleep. earlier sleeping time would also be good too. i mean... we will see each other again tomorrow, and probably after this vacation. so yeah... we could use the night for sleep. and damn, we paid for the beds and the room so might as well use it.

di ba? like i said, what is disposable income for? and we have been ready for this trip since march. so.

bantayan and malapascua

it was quite unexpected fun really. i flew to cebu not expecting much, but with the kindness and generosity of the people it was very enjoyable and blessed. lots of laughter and lots of pictures. our snorkeling gears were utilized to the full as we checked out the coral reefs of the two islands. silly, harebrained ideas with jan as willing victim. tee-hee!

thank you, ray for arranging most of the trip.
thank you, jerry for being our kaban ng yaman, official haggler and PR person.
thank you, andy for the cheap rates and the great service.
thank you, tito peter for being jan's boyfriend and teaching us about bombs.
thank you, tita susan for the free dinners and the big discount on the lodging and showing us around ogtong cave resort. it is truly a wonderful place.
thank you, ray, jerry, mia, miah, ninin and jan for sharing the trip with me. i had such a great time and so did dixie. i haven't waken up that early for three consecutive days in quite a while. just to see the sunrise spectacle that decided to be quiet the days we were there. still lack of sleep but abundance of food and friends... always something worth having.

like what dixie said... let the pictures do the talking. soon. ;p

DDE #3

i'm a month old today!

i spent the last few days with m.angie and her friends at malapascua and bantayan island. most of the time i was just inside my bag because i might get wet. but it was fun riding the boat, though a little scary. i might need to go back to the shop if i got wet. so i'd rather be not wet.

i've discovered two new ways to make use of my abilities. i've always known about my continuous shots feature but this was the trip where i had the most fun with it. my models did a lot of funny poses so i took one pixie after another. it's funny when you see the results. like a cartoon missing a few frames... well that was it actually. hehe! t.jan was the funniest person during the trip which was quite new. must be the fresh bantayan air. hehe!

we also played with my shutter speed. since it was already dark, m.angie and ther friends tried to write their name with light. and it was so spectacular! except m.angie took a long time to learn it. t.ninin did it quickly and so did t.ray. t.mia and t.miah had a hard time as well... but they seemed to enjoy a lot.

there is so much to tell about the trip but i think my pixies will do a better job at it. i'm just glad to have spent my first month being fully utilized. there is so much to learn about me! and i'd like to know that about myself too.

i wonder how the next few months would go with me? i hope it's as exciting and adventurous. :)

mon's wedding

una: aba e... napa-gown niya ako ng pink! bakit? kasi gusto niya mang long gown ako. at dahil wala akong gown, si inay ang nag-rescue sa akin. naghanap sa mga kaibigan... at ang nahagilap... tatlo! pero dahil nagtanong ako sa ikakasal kung ano gusto ipinasuot sa akin... yung old rose na long gown daw kesa yung burgundy (motif) na knee length. sya, sya... kasal niya ito... sige na... pagbigyan.

pangalawa: sinuot ko ang gown. aba e... pixie cut, asymetric, one side lang ang may strap. naloloka ang lola niyong ito. feeling ko magkakaroon ako ng wardrobe malfunction within the day. mahirap ang walang hinaharap. or praning lang talaga ako. pero in fairness... maganda ang dating. kaso lang pink... pero di obvious na di akin ang damit. mwehehe!

pangatlo: aba e... in-love na in-love tong si mon salas sa misis. di pa nakakarating ng altar e sinundo na sa magulang. pero siyempre part ng wedding march nila. pero aba e... nagkiligan ang mga kautawan sa kanyang pagsundo at paglakad nila ng sabay papuntang dambana. ako din. i can'tbelieve pinakikilig ako ni mon salas. mwehehe! at nung picture taking na e... kung makahawak si mon... parang di na pakakawalan si dinah. aba e. kakatuwa.

pang-apat: alanghiyang mokong... set-up. wala nang toss the boquet at toss the garter. diniretso na pasa sa amin ni jan (na may birthday nga pala nung araw na iyon). akala ko nagbibiro lang nung nakita kami habang papasok sa reception... "tatawagin na lang namin kayo mamaya." ako naman... "hehehe!" di sineryoso. sinadya ko pang mag-cr nung bouquet toss. nung bumalik ako... papunta na si dinah sa akin at pinapasa na ang flowers. nge! so ang lola niyo? tawa lang ng tawa. dahil hiyang hiya. siyempre kilala na kami ng mga bisita ni mon! at aba e... madaya si jan dahil maling apelyido ang nasabi "camiño" hmph!

first time mangyari na mapunta ako sa harapan para magsuot ng garter dahil ni minsan di ako nag-attempt na magsalo ng bouquet. hay naku. pero nakakatawa. at natuwa na rin ako sa pagkapursigido ni mon.

pero masaya, in fairness. madami pang kuwento! including ang paglilibot namin nina sherwin ng buong surigao city para hanapin ang mt. baragabon resort only to end up in the first hotel we saw. hay buhay. pero saka na yun. at saka na rin ang pictures.

cagayan, cagayan

it's strange how i used to looove cagayan de oro. especially during my volunteer year. it was a welcome respite from my humdrum life in bukidnon where it was quiet and i was a semi-respectable teacher (wearing torn jeans kinda lowered the respectability level a bit).

in cagayan, i can doo-wop until morning and i don't have to care. and until now, i can still do that. except when you ride a rickety motorcycle for three hours through rocky roads then hike up and down for six hours in two days... doo-wopping is the last thing i'd like to do.

wish i can go to a spa and have a massage... except that would be pretty useless because i have to take another seven hour bus ride to home tomorrow.

it's friday in cagayan de oro. and that means night cafe. which means bustling energy that is about to burst at the seams. this is the kind of excitement i enjoy in davao during kadayawan. but an experience i don't need to have every week.

i see a bunch of very young boys out feeling like they're cool as cucumbers. then another bunch of non-boys in their skimpy shorts and padded bras parading in front of bars. on one side of the street, curlicues of smoke come from food roasting on the grill... and on the other side, the sounds of commerce as barter takes place between seller and haggler.

it's all so fun and vibrant. i wish i had the energy to take dixie out and snap away. but my mind and body is too pooped to do anything but check e-mail and do a quickie blog post... which is fast turning into a long entry.

and for quite a while now, i have been feeling distant to cagayan. i know i don't belong here anymore... that i am what i have always been -- a constant observer. today i realized i do not have the personality to be part of this city. but i have the energy to be a detached outsider... that the mere presence of cagayan keeps me awake beyond what my body can usually handle.

i should be sleeping right now... but there is something about cagayan that just prods my senses awake. and after this entry... am off to take a bit of walk and look around and check out the people and muse to myself, "what an interesting city."

butuan-surigao

Beautiful.

To spend an afternoon in front of Lake Mainit in a place called Jabonga. And silly as it was, I dipped my finger into the ocean to check if it was indeed hot, or at least warm, as the name infers. My guess was correct. It wasn’t. So why is it called Lake Mainit? Allegedly, its source IS hot. That is something I’d have to figure out, huh?

To be comfortably chauffered by the priest’s chauffer throughout most of the day. Driven around anytime, anywhere is always good.

To witness a FULL-ARC RAINBOW in complete and vivid ROYGBIV glory! And God sure knows how to surpass Himself by actually placing a less vibrant but still magnificent twin rainbow. I would have loved to hunt down the pots of gold on both ends… or four! And I prayed that it was a promise of something good for those who took time to admire its beauty.

To ride at the back of a pick-up late at night while going home from the barrio, the wind whipping my hair and caressing my face and seeing the dark dome of sky freckled with stars the size of a powdered sugar grain and the Milky Way disguised as a wayward cloud. Spectacular.

To finally have my curiosity sated and see Surigao City once and for all. It’s still not Siargao but I am already impressed by its mesmerizing beauty. A quick trip to the Pebble beach got me falling-in-love with Surigao right then and there. A rocky beach, crystal clear water, a scenic view of Southern Leyte… Without actually seeing the area we were supposed to be helping soon, I was actually shouting, “approved! Approved!” Beautiful. Simply magnificent.

And oh… not to mention the surfers dining at Jollibee (I am assuming they are… no boards or anything… but they look like they hang ten). With eye-candy like that… how can I not want to go to the surfing cup (but I can’t go. Dang!)?

To view Lake Mainit and the mountain range that surrounds it at dusk time, with the houselights from the other side signaling signs of life by the mountainside… only God can imagine and create purple in various hues in one moving picture… hu-waaaaaw. Simply breathtaking…

Those are the times I’m glad for my work.:)

kadayawan 2007: photo documentation

it is that time of the year again when the city of davao comes alive with people and activities. streets are colored with fruits selling cheap and tasting sweet. i've probably devoured 10 kilos worth of mangosteen in five days!

this year was complete attendance and more, as friends from manila flew over to enjoy our yearly tradition of a crazy August weekend. it may be quite a while since another gathering of this number may happen. if that be the case, it was a fitting swan song for a tradition that brings the barkadayawan/fuhkers (fun house kids) together.

friday at pawikan sanctuary in punta dumalag, matina.
thanks to sherwin for allowing us to tag along. :)

lesbian lovers in their bikinis sitting on the painful dead corals
just to have a nice photo shoot.
nice backs, girls!

welcome to davao, tubero!
fuhktastic four with shiva and dave at the imago concert.
huwag niyo na hanapin yung imago, noh! kami ang bida.

yummy slipper lobster in garlic sauce at pards ilustre.
chris and edward, our waiters, must have enjoyed serving us
as we threw hirits back and forth at each other. tatit has video of crazy lunch. abangan!

huli kami! because we were so noisy we were caught in the net with the squid and lobster.

aldevinco is for photo shoots. the wares for sale are our props.

it would have tatit's first street dancing. unfortunately, it ended early this year. darn. we were able to get pictures of the dancers commissioned by marco polo though. pretty little lass, ain't she?

surprise despedida for tatit who is going to netherlands.
the whole barkadayawan/fuhkers friends were present. and guests, too!
thanks to kitoy, morten harket and mon salas for the belly-aching laughter ;p.
neuken in the keuken. badankt!

punta ng inamong falls! look at that beauty.
arakan valley, entering through marahan in davao city.

trekkers in the midst of cogon!
seedlings donated for the rehabilitation of the place.

sugarfree to cap a tiring day.

yey! boooooo!

let me first say that two of the things i really like doing is writing and traveling. and i even tried to combine the two by putting up another blog specifically for travel, which unfortunately i have not been able to update often. it's now swarming with flies at the moment because of the stale posts. when times are better, i do hope to continue with it and give it more attention. for now, i content myself writing about travels at igougo.com. the reason why i write more here than in my blog is i can earn gift certificates for my entries. and freebies are always good motivation.

and finally, a mini-dream come true. my first top-rated journal! it's about our holy week road trip to surigao del sur. yahoohey. (pagbigyan niyo na ang aking little joys. hehe!)

* * * * *

boooooo-ang ka! my second most hated government official (first is raul gonzales, third is GMA) is back in the news. well, he's probably always in the news all the time, i just don't open the newspaper anymore.

anyway, stupid idjot angelo reyes gives the go signal for the construction of a spa inside taal volcano? wtf?!

hello. taal volcano is a protected area. taal volcano is one of country's most known landmarks. taal volcano is an active volcano. wtf is wrong with this dude? he pimps our country to international mining investors, and now he's allowing a national heritage to be raped by korean investors?!

ewan. i'm not even trying to see the other side of the picture here. when it comes to protecting the environment, i'm pretty closed to my own beliefs. so i don't think he can present me with any argument that would sway me to believing that this spa should not happen and all. anuvah.

why are these three people still alive? kasi matagal mamatay ang masamang damo. @&#!+u!

yey

my first five pencil rating in igougo.com here!

blue moon

Is a rare occurrence of having two full (fool) moons in a month. I could have been the only person experiencing that last night.

The bus going back to Davao zipped through the highway between Malaybalay and Valencia. Trees and houses whipped by, existing barely a second to my reality.

For seven o’ clock in the evening, the world seemed to have surreal brightness I can’t seem to pinpoint.

Until I saw the moon rise. Amidst the mountains of Bukidnon, a mesmerizing pale yellow globe rising through dark clouds with shining outlines. Wow…

It has been a while since I saw a moon rise, and the last time was also on a bus trip home. I guess you could say those are the perks of my job - the endless possibilities of witnessing God’s creations in various circumstances, none of which occur too often. A fat pay check to go with that would be great too, though.

I couldn’t take my eyes of her. She was a seductive temptress that beckons to anyone who makes the mistake of ogling her. The moon only needed to be to entice. There is no need to flip her hair or bite her lip or play with the mouth of her wine glass.

Then my blue moon.

In the stillness of the water from the rice paddies appeared the other moon.

Perhaps the evil twin of the one I was staring at? Or maybe the moon of a parallel dimension? Or has luna-cy taken me over and is making my imagination run wild?

Whatever it was, I was looking at twin moons that moment. One still rising almost imperceptibly, the other dipping deeper into the murky pools of the darkness.

If only my camera could capture the beauty my eyes have beheld. No matter how much I try to describe what I saw, I could never recapture what I have witnessed.

It could be one of those things that should be experienced in solitude.

cool!

igougo.com is a website where any individual can write travel reviews about any place in the world. my good friend, rowie, recommended it to me since she knows i love traveling. i registered 2005, but it was only this year that i actually started logging in entries.

they rate entries from one star (which is not a star but a pencil) to five stars, with five being the highest. my average is three stars, which is when they start handing out points. i've had four stars before, but i don't think i bothered reading about it on my e-mail until today.

i never realized how cool it was to get such an affirmation for doing something i enjoy! traveling and writing about it. see here!

Hi manlalakbay,

Journal Name: Davao: Touring the Home Front
Journal Entry: Kadayawan Festival

We just wanted to take a minute to send you a special "thanks" for contributing to IgoUgo. We're happy to award you one of our top ratings—and valuable GO Points^SM—for this phenomenal review. As a top contributor, you won't want to miss:

• The variety of great rewards you'll earn by writing more reviews like this one
• A chance to make your reviews shine even more (and rack up more GO Points^SM) by uploading your vacation photos
• The IgoUgo Hall of Fame, where our all-time top contributors are recognized for their travel expertise and superlative journals

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please don't hesitate to contact us directly. Thanks again—we look forward to reading about many more of your travels in the future!

Sincerely,

Your IgoUgo Editors

How great is that! Getting a four-star is really tough already, but I hope I can get a five-star soon. :)

spot the error!

while we were having lunch during our road trip to surigao del sur, sherwin noticed this calendar hanging on the wall. suddenly we burst out snickering. can you gess why? hehe!

Holy Week photos

chema's by the sea resort, samal island

canibad, samal island

lanuza, surigao del sur(f)

(click the photo to see the album)

surf's up!

Black Saturday.

It has been two days since we left Davao in search of a great Holy Week vacation, the beaches of Cantilan and Cagwait in Surigao del Sur did not meet the high expectations most of the gang had. They were beautiful, sure. But they could not compare to the Wednesday trip to Canibad. The bars has been set too high. Tsk. Tsk.

Until we finally decided to just go back to Lanuza and give surfing a try. Or at least look like I tried it, as evidence of the photo on the right. ;p But I did try it! It was fun. But...



I looked like this after.

A cut and a bruise on the chin. Caused by the sudden wave that had the board hit me on the chin and made me dizzy for a few seconds.

Bruises on the inside of the arm. From the board being swiped by the waves.

Bruises on the knees. From jumping onto the board from the water.

There are many other aches and bruises I can give you. But this photo is enough to tell you that it's not a pretty sport.

But it's heckuva fun one!

Read the rest of the surfing story.

shameless plug

once i was biyaheng mindanao. that blog tried to chronicle my experiences of the sights and sounds and feelings of going around mindanao for work. then things changed. i had to morph into the cross-eyed bear.

but there is no denying the mole on my foot. it itches to travel. to see places. to feel the grains of sand on the beach. the road less traveled. to discover every possible nook and cranny of this country. anywhere place i can drag myself to.

at the same time, i desire to be a virtual tour guide. to guide people to places i have been. to take them on a trip and explore with me the wide wide world.

so i started a travel blog. drop by BIYAHENG PINAS.

note: non-multiply users may go to this BIYAHENG PINAS.